A web browser is a software application that is commonly used for retrieving, presenting and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. Each information resource is identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and may be a web page, an image, a video, or other piece of content. Hyperlinks present in information resources enable users to easily navigate their web browsers to related information resources. Examples of modern web browsers include but are not limited to INTERNET EXPLORER®, published by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., CHROME™, published by Google Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., FIREFOX®, published by the Mozilla Foundation of Mountain View, Calif., and SAFARI®, published by Apple Inc. of Cupertino, Calif. Although web browsers are primarily intended to navigate the World Wide Web, they can also be used to access information provided by web servers in private networks or files in file systems.
Web browsers typically obtain information based solely on input that is provided by a user at the time the information is being sought. For example, a user can direct a web browser to a particular information resource by typing the URL of the resource into an address bar of the web browser's user interface (UI). As another example, a user may access an Internet search engine via a web browser, and then obtain information by typing a search query into the search engine's UI that is presented within the context of the web browser. In either case, it may be difficult for the user to find useful information because the user must either know the URL of an information resource that provides useful information or the precise set of key words that will cause the search engine to identify information resources that include useful information.
Some web browsers enable a user to maintain a list of favorite or bookmarked web pages to provide easy access thereto. Some web browsers can also present frequently-accessed or recently-accessed URLs to a user via an address bar, a new tab page, or the like. Such features are limited in that they can only enable a user to navigate to information resources that they have accessed in the past. They do not help the user find new sources of information. Furthermore, some search engines can present a user with recommended search queries based on the user's prior search history or based on search queries that are currently trending among other users of the search engine. However, such recommended search queries are often not helpful in assisting the user in obtaining useful information at the time they need it.